Part One: ReadingBefore I ask you to write any Flash Fiction, I'd like you to read some. The links below will take you to sites that offer lots of examples of this type of writing. I'd like you to read a handful of them. What's a handful? As many as you can find in 20 minutes or so.

The Times Magazine’s Lives column. Though, as the name of the series implies, these pieces are memoirs, the structure and length can be good models. Here are some short student stories based on Lives columns.

After reading, I'd like you to select one (1) story that you liked and respond to it briefly in this Google form.

Part Two: WritingAfter reading some samples, head on over to www.shorpy.com and find a photograph that needs a story--some intriguing "stray moment."

Try your hand at writing your own flash fiction based on this photograph. It should be somewhere between 100-200 words. This is a first draft. You will revise it.

Bring in a copy of your story--AND the photo that inspired it--for Wednesday's class.

I hope you've been enjoying your independent book(s). Remember you need to read a minimum of 2 hours each week.

Do me a favor: could you please fill out this form and indicate the particulars of your book and your reading rate. You wrote those details in your writer's notebook, and on a not very official Post-It for me. I'd like to have something a bit more official on the books.

Beginning this week, in addition to your weekly minimum of two hours of reading, you’ll also reflect in writing on what you’ve read.

How?

Each Monday, come to class with a 1+ page personal reflection on your reading from that week. Think of this writing as an opportunity to “take stock” of important moments in the text. How will you know what moments are important? Apply the Notice and Note signposts described below. You may want to have a few sticky notes in your book that you can use to mark scenes that are worth exploring in more detail – scenes that are “worth writing about.” Please note that if you want to write about something that is not directly related to one of the signposts, feel free! Your weekly reflections should emerge from your personal reactions to the text. Most of the time, one of the six signposts will apply since they appear in so many different stories.

The key in your reflections is to reflect in an inferential or critical manner (not literal). Do not just describe or summarize what happened; instead, explore why what happened may be significant in the story (the signposts).Your reflections and reading progress (have you made your weekly page goal?) will be checked each Monday. Remember, your reflection is due at the beginning of class every Monday (or IR day).Your first reflection is due Monday, October 19.

Also: I'll be checking in on your reading goal (what page your on, etc.) every three weeks. I'll be awarding 10 points for consistent reading, but less for readers who are falling behind on their goal.

Expect to give a 5-minute book talk before the end of each marking period.

You are going to write a personal essay. Your first assignment for me was a personal essay, You told me the story of your life as a reader and writer. This next piece can be from any other angle. The only requirements are:

it is from your perspective

it aims to capture the truth of the event(s) and experiences

it is contemplative and reflective

What could it look like?

it could be a narrative; a telling of an event or story

it could be a reflection on a topic (like life as a left-hander; as Jewish; as a worrier, etc.)

it could be about a relationship you've had or had

or something else

Your first draft is about discovery and "getting it down." So don't worry too much about what it's going to become, just "get it down" on the paper/screen.

Use your writer's notebook for ideas, if you're unhappy with the one you're working on.

We will be working on this draft next week, so you need to have something "down" by the end of class.

Just write. And then keep writing. Remember: all that typing sounds like rain,.